Every day, an additional 110,000 people are forced into water scarcity: WaterAid

A new ranking by WaterAid of developing countries shows where millions of people are already losing their right to water, increasing their vulnerability to the impact of climate change.

Sudan, Niger and Pakistan are the top 3 countries with the most threatened water supply, based on new analysis of Notre Dame Global Adaptation Initiative measures of access to water, climate patterns and water usage rates.

Destructive impacts of climate change like droughts, floods and increasingly severe storms are the primary culprits behind decreased farming output and rising hunger worldwide, speakers told the Second Committee (Economic and Financial), as it took up agriculture, food security and nutrition today.

Our analysis shows that millions of ‘people caught in crisis’ - people living in conflict, and/or who are displaced within their own countries or across borders – are in fact being left behind. Failure to take action now means that the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will not be met, undermining the credibility of the international community and leaving millions to die unnecessarily.

As many scientists are warning it is becoming increasingly unlikely that the world will be able to remain within the warming threshold of 2 degrees, decision-makers need to be able to plan to adapt to a world with higher levels of global warming. WFP helps inform these adaptation decisions, as part of the European Commission scientific research project known as High-End cLimate Impact and eXtremes (HELIX). Check out this poster to understand the impacts of extreme climate change on global food insecurity in a warmer world, and how WFP is helping countries to address these impacts.

A new World Bank report has found that by 2050 the worsening impacts of climate change in three densely populated regions of the world could see more than 140 million people move within their countries’ borders.

With concerted action, however, including global efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions and robust development planning at the country level – this worst-case scenario could be dramatically reduced, by as much as 80 percent, or 100 million people.

This infographic shows what a 2°C and 4°C warmer world would mean for global food insecurity. A 2°C warmer world would mean that 189 million people could experience levels of vulnerability to food insecurity greater than in the present day, while the number reaches 1.8 billion in a 4°C warmer world.

6 November 2017 (WMO) - It is very likely that 2017 will be one of the three hottest years on record, with many high-impact events including catastrophic hurricanes and floods, debilitating heatwaves and drought. Long-term indicators of climate change such as increasing carbon dioxide concentrations, sea level rise and ocean acidification continue unabated. Arctic sea ice coverage remains below average and previously stable Antarctic sea ice extent was at or near a record low.

Climate change is already forcing millions of people from their land and homes, and putting many more at risk of displacement in the future. Supercharged storms, more intense and prolonged droughts, rising seas and other impacts of climate change all exacerbate people’s existing vulnerabilities and increase the likelihood of being forced to move.

This discussion paper demonstrates that climate-induced non-economic loss and damage (NELD) includes forms of damage that cannot be measured or compensated financially. It includes loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services, land, territories, artefacts, life, health, knowledge, social cohesion, identity, and sovereignty, and it ultimately causes migration and displacement.

In 2010, CDKN was established as a demand-led initiative, bringing the best resources available from across the global market to support decision-makers in developing countries to develop the necessary policies and plans to tackle climate change. Although at first CDKN took a broader geographic approach in 70 countries, from 2013 onwards, CDKN focused its resources on 12 priority countries: Bangladesh, Colombia, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Kenya, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan, Peru, Rwanda and Uganda; and on one subregion: the Caribbean.

Disaster Resilience – defined by DFID as “the ability of countries, communities and households to manage change, by maintaining or transforming living standards in the face of shocks or stresses – such as earthquakes, drought or violent conflict – without compromising their long-term prospects” – is now a prominent concept in DFID’s strategy.

With several African countries threatened by famine and fears that climate change is increasing the frequency of extreme weather events, this is an opportune time to assess the performance of DFID’s programming on disaster resilience.